The field of the invention is home security systems.
Incidents of theft and violence occurring within or near residences are all too common occurrences, resulting in a continuing need to provide effective security systems. Although there are many security systems available on the market, most of the high end, sophisticated systems are designed for either commercial use or for use by persons having large homes and/or high incomes.
One especially difficult problem is poor cost effectiveness in the protection of ordinary residences. Cost considerations, for example, generally limit the availability of full-time video monitoring of residences to wealthy individuals. Although methods are known for providing security that do not involve full-time monitoring, such methods tend to be unreliable. Among other things, unattended or partially unattended systems tend to generate a large number of false alarms, and thus tend to be ignored when a true alarm is sounded.
To be affordable to ordinary residents, protection systems would ideally have both a relatively low initial cost and a relatively low, ongoing monitoring cost. In many instances the market ceiling may be about $100.00 per month, and in some markets the ceiling may be only about $50.00 per month (in Jan. 1, 1998 dollars), or even less. Labor costs generally prevent presently known systems from achieving that result. In the United States, for example, a $50 monthly charge per residence would generally only pay for a single operator to monitor a single cameras at each of 75 residences for an average of less than two hours per view per day. Of course, if an average residence had more than one camera, such as one for the front of the residence and one for the back, the average period that each camera can be monitored drops to less than one hour per day. This leaves over 90% of the day unattended, and is completely inadequate. Thus, without some sort of automatic interrupt or automatic prioritizing of images, it is contemplated that a single operator can realistically only monitor about ten to twenty cameras. Such monitoring is generally not cost-effective.
One possible solution to the cost-effectiveness problem is to utilize motion detectors that only send images to a centralized monitoring facility when motion is detected. Unfortunately, such technology tends to be problematic in residential environments due to a relatively high frequency of activity in and around residences, such as from pets and children. Remote image content processing (i.e., image content processing that is located at or near each camera rather than in a centralized monitoring facility or transmission node) is also known, and is sold, for example, by ADPRO(trademark) Vision Systems, Mawson Lakes SA 5095, Australia. Unfortunately, while remote image content processing can reduce the number of false alarms sent to a central monitoring facility below that provided by simple motion detectors, remote image content processing is relatively expensive to install and maintain because of the distributed nature of the technology. Still further, as software and hardware advances, each remote image content processing capability must be individually updated to stay current.
Another possible solution is to initiate a transmission link to the monitoring facility only upon demand. The demand may be generated by a user connecting his system for full-time surveillance only during high risk periods, or by a remote processor identifying an urgency (perhaps using remote image content processing), and then dialing into the central monitoring facility. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,708 to Katz (May 1995), for example, a security system includes a plurality of cameras coupled to a central monitoring facility via dial up-telephone lines. A computer presents images from the cameras on a random basis or using a predetermined sequence, such that a relatively large number of cameras can be accommodated. Similar systems have been proposed for medical observation of home-bound patients. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,047 to David et al. (Aug. 1995)). While these systems improve cost effectiveness on a per user basis, they do so at the cost of extensive xe2x80x9cdarkxe2x80x9d periods. Katz, for example, teaches that each view may be observed for perhaps only one thirty second interval every ten minutes.
In addition to monitoring problems, security systems have responsiveness problems. For example, if an operator observes an intruder on a monitor in a typical security system, there is a high probability that the intruder will achieve his goals and leave the scene of the crime before police or security personnel arrive at the scene. This problem is especially acute with respect to residential areas because of their relatively great geographic dispersion.
The responsiveness problem has been addressed to some extent by providing two-way communication between remote sites and the central monitoring facility. The David et al. ""047 patent, for example, describes security systems that employ interactive cable television to provide two-way communication between a medical worker and a patient. Applying that concept to residence monitoring, an operator may advantageously deter an intruder by informing the intruder that he is being watched, and that the appropriate authorities have been notified. Unfortunately, such operator intervention will only be effective if an operator happens to be actively monitoring a view showing the intrusion. In the past such detection requires either a large number of operators relative to the number of cameras (views) being monitored, or relatively sophisticated equipment at the remote locations for filtering out non-emergency situations.
Thus, providing security systems presents both monitoring and responsiveness problems that have not heretofore been cost-effectively resolved, especially in the residential market at large. This situation has resulted in a continuing need to improve methods and apparatus for residential security.
According to the present invention, improved security systems combine distributed cameras with centralized image content processing and interactive monitoring. This particular combination improves cost-effectiveness by increasing the number of residences or other sites that a single operator can monitor, and by providing the operator with the ability to remotely communicate with an intruder.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.